Automatically-threading shuttle.



IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII JUNE 8. 1905.

. w. P. DRAP AUTOMATICALLY THRBA SHUTTLE.

I PATENTED 001-30, 1906.

"No. 834,607. PATBNTED OCT. 30, 1906 W. P. DRAPBR. I AUTOMATICALLY THBEADIN UTTLE.

ION II APPLIOAT LED JUNE 8, l 5.

UNITED" sTATEs ATENT OFFICE.

a WIILLIAMVF. DRAPER, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSE'ITS.

AUTOMATICALLY-THREADING SHUTTLE.

' shuttle which is usually employed has a slotted or open 'thread-eye' into which'the thread is automatically conducted by the traverse of the shuttle back and forth across the lay after a fresh filling-carrier hasbeen inserted in :the shilt'tle, the free end of thethread beingheldby a suitable weft-end holder; It is therefore of vital importance that the shuttle should be so constructed as to'reliablg v oeive the thread into the shuttleeye s tofore difficult has been experienced through the. occasio'na failureof the shuttle to become threaded, this involving a, breakage of the thread and the transfer of'another .Weftcarrier to the shuttle immediatel followin the transfer of the Weft-carrier W iose threa v failed to become threaded. Also such shuttles having open eyes the further difficulty has been experienced that. occasionally the thread would jump out ofthe eve, this involving frequently the breakage of the thread.

stituted therefor. .sarily early depletion of-the spare weft-car followed? by an unnecessarytransfer of av fresh weft-carrier.

.curs an unnecessary breakage of thread, it

Whenever there thus 00- follows thatweft-carriers, still with large amounts of weft on them, are ejectedfrom the shuttle and fresh weft-carriers are'sub- This involves an unnecesriers in the hopper" or magazine, thus involv 1 ing-increased attention to the loom, and

hence diminishing tliqnui'rnber of looms to which a singleweaver can attend. It is also important to'avoid transfers in immediate successionfsince.this may cause a defect in.

ttempts have been made to so construct shuttlesjas to avoid these defects but, while-progress has been made in this direction, nevertheless with":the best forms of shuttles heretofore existing there has been an amount of misthreading and Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed J 11119 8, 1905. Serial 110. 264.231;\

Patented Oct. so, 1906 v: breakage of threads which interferes the theoretical capacity ofweft-repl ni hin iooms as labor-savingdevices. 0

threading, and the breakage of thread due thereto, and the present improved automatthis-object. c v. 1

The venti'onconsists in the improved "i don'struction whereby the threading is, renavoided. H.

i One embodiment of the present improve ments is illustrated v in the drawings, which-' cross-section in the lane indicated ythe of the arrow 4. Fig. 5 is .a fcross-se'ction taken'in the plane indicated by the linei5 5, in

row 5. Fig. 6 is a lan view similar to Fig. 1,

-1ng-passages and the horn removed. ;Fig. 7

s a side view withthe said block' rernoved Fi indicated by the line 8 8 in Fig.6 and looking same plane, but lookmg in the direction of the arrow 9. Fig. 9 also shows; a modification involving an additionalimprovementpassage C and a horn stantial y the same as in prior t es-ofautomatically threading shuttles. he thread ing-passage and the horn are formed in-a the front end of the shuttle, and they may be constructed as heretofore. By preference with threa' ingassage and horn such as are set-forth in the nited States patent of Northrop'; No. 769,914, dated September 13, 1904,

and such is indicated in the present draw-. s. When a weft-carrier is inserted in the shuttle, the end of its thread is secured to a dered certain and: accidental unthreading is;

' a o a n I Figure 1 is a plan viewoof the eyeend'of a shuttle containing the present improve}. m'ents. .Fi 2 is a side view thereof. vFig. 3 I is a longitu inal vertical section, Fi 4 1s a v .15 line 4 4 inFig. land ooking in the direction 8 is a longitudinal sectionin the plane there is em loyed the forml-of inserted block I The purpose of the present invention is to reduce to a ,ininimum misthreading, un-

ically-threading shuttle successfully attains Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of'thear- '1 with the metallicfb ock containing the threadin the direction of the arrow 8 9 is a section similar topF' 8 and taken in the 9o The shuttle has a longitudinal threading I passage A,a slotted or 0 en eye B, a deliveryw which in their gen-' .eral coo erative relations are or may be submetal block which is inserted into a cavity at suitable holder, and the shuttle then travels sage C. At the comp a Is ' the delivery-passage against the front edge automatically threading therefi'omduring the of such a character as to facilitate the the shuttle makes its next away from the holder, the end of the shuttle havmg the thread-eye being toward the weftend holder. Hence it may appropriately be said that during the first flight of the shuttle across the lay with the fresh weft-carrier the shuttle travels backward. This lays the thread lengthwise of-the shuttle and carries the thread down intothe threading-passage below the forward point a of the horn and extends it longitudinally of the delivery-pas- I etion of the backward fl ght of the shuttle the thread should occupy the position indicated in Fig. I. The delivery-passage O is forward of the horn and communicates with the open thread-eye B thro h the slot 6 in the u per part of the threa -eye, which slot may lie-regarded as-a continuation of the delivery-passage. When or second flight with its eye end this forward travel of the led backwardly through through the shed, it travels forward, and durin shfittle the thread is or wall of the horn D, which conducts the thread through the thread-slot 1) into the thread-eye B. This general operation is that which has heretofore been carried out by.

shuttles in automatic weft-replenishing ooms.

In orderthat the threading may be successfully aocom lished, it is necessary that the thread s'hou d be laid beneath the point of the'horn'and' that it should not esca e second or forward fii t of the shuttle. The problem to be'solve is tle doesf'not .travel back and forth in a straight line, because in addition to its own proper movement itpartakes of the swing of the lay, and, second, because during the time that the shuttle. is traveling from the. shuttle box ;(during its "second or forward flight) until after it'seyehas'well assed the selvage-threads the threadisslac ened and is liable to beeomedet'ached "from thehorrh Accordingly it is important that the'delirn cry-passage, while so donstructed that the" thread may lie well 'below the oint' of thehorn, shou'ld atthe same'time e of appropriate sizeand sha e to preventthe thread esca ing while it is slack. On the other han while the delivery-passage should-be threading it should not go ,tothe. other ex"- treme and render unthreading'easy; N owin accordance with the present inventionthe deliveryassa-ge is "so constructed and related to t "e eye-and horn thatnot only isthe completion oft h'e threading roperly pen formed; but also,the'accidental unthreading is avoid'cU livery-passage. most point of the bottom (1 is very close to the nearest point of the horn D,-leaving only r a narrow throat m for the passage of the complicated, first, by the fact that the'shutthe eye B and directs the thread thereto. The top of the delivery-passage is open. The bottom (I inclines downwardly and rear- 'wardly from the tip end of the shuttle toward the horn D, as best shown in Fig. 3. Its lower end terminates in aplane at or below the levelof the top of the eye B. The lower rear end of the inclined bot om d terminates at a wall F, which constitutes the end wall of the cavity in which the block carrying the threading-passae A and the horn D is located. This wall is shown as substantially vertical in 3 and 7 and as overhanging in Fig. 9.. It is desirablethat it should be substantially vertical; but it is preferably overhanging, as shown in Fig. 9, so as to insure that it shall not guide an engaging thread to the delivery-passage. This wa 1 extends downwardly from the lowest oint of the deliveryassage to a plane at or Eelow the bottom 0% the thread-eye. The

. bottom g of this cavity is below the bottom of the thread-eye B, as clearly shown in Fig. 9. The lower edge of the inclined bottom d is'just above the owerheel '1', of the'horn D.

Consequently a thread which should lie along the bottom d would be way beneath the point of the horn and would be in the close neighborhood of the thread-eye and the heel t of the horn, where the thread is in contact with the lower edge of the bottom (1 of the do- At the same time-the lowerthread. The importance of this small throat ch prevents nnthreadirig. The highest point of the bottom d of the delivery-passage where it merges into the top surface of the shuttle near the front tip of the'sh'uttle is below the point a of the horn,

so that when the thread is strained and bears against'the front edge of the deliverypas'sage I is drawn belowtheplane of the point of the hornu The" uard wall" f of the delivery-passage curves ownwardly from-the trip of the shuttie to the bottom (3, affording a guiding-surface to guide the thread downwardly and beneath the point a of the horn. The upper will hereinafter ap ear' in connection with the construction w edge of the guard-wall is substantially ,inline with the rear-portion of the threading-passage A, (see Fig. 1,) and-the initial downward "abruptness of the guard-wall f aflords free and unobstructed downward passage of the thread to a 'point well below-the point of the a horn. The topedge of the guard-wall f is not along-the longitudinal middle line of the shuttle, but is back of said link-that is to say, thesaid middle line of the-shuttle is between the plane of the top edge of theguardwall and the shuttle eye. v r a *"Ihe directing-wall e of the'delivery-passage has its upper edge in a plane below thetop of the shuttle, so that atits rear upper corner, where it merges into the forward wallof the slot b,it is below'the top plate g of the horn D, thereby leaving roomforthe passage of the thread into the open top of the slot b. This edge p extends substantially longitudinally', and no part of it is above the under face of the point of the horn, .(see Fig. 4,) so

that as the thread is drawn over 't during the forward flight of the shuttle here is nothing to make the thread rise above the point of the horn. This edge p constitutes the forward edge of the delivery-passage,

, because as the shuttle'ibeats backward and forward with the lay it is at the forward wall of the shuttle. The directing-wall e of the delivery-passageslopes downwardly and inwardly toward the bottom (1, affording an ample and free space between it and the side face ofthe horn, which fronts the thread-eye B. The shape given to the delivery-passage as the result of this construction of the bottom and the twowall's is such that ,at the tip and ofthe shuttle the delivery-passage terminates, .and from this point it spreads later ally or diverges and deepens toward the point of the horn, its directingwall e terminating in the slot b of the thread-eye, itsuard-wall being back of and.free from the cm, while its bottom at its lowest point reaches nearlyto the heel i of the horn at a plane at or below the top of the thread-eye. As the result of this construction the delivery-- passage presents am 1e room forward of and on both sides of t e born to receive the thread irrespective of the swing of the lay and the kinkin same time theelivery passa e is so deep that the thread once in it wi not escape durin the, slackening of the thread when the s uttle makes its forward or second flight after receiving a fresh weft-carrier..

As the result the shuttle is threaded with certainty. It will be observed that the highest point of the bottom (1 of the deliverypassage C near the point of the shuttle is not at the longitudinal middle of the shuttle, but is toward the eye side of the shuttle. This is indicated by the section-line 8 8 in Fig; 6, which intersects this highest point of the bottom (1. As the result the thread isdi rected toward the eye'side of the shuttle by: .-the, guard-wall f, and thereb its pass'agebeneaththe overhanging bea 'G is faci itateda r The l e ad ing,edge of'the horn :inclines from its point" toiit' heel downwardly and rearwardly, as x theupper'point of the horn overhangs the bottom dof the delivery-passage, this being rendered possible because the depth of the delivery-passage enables its bottom to be extended downwardly and rearwardly beneath-the point of the horn. This is an important factor in insuring the correct threadof the thread, and at the.

best Sha na, Fig. '3', so that ing of the shuttle, because some portion of the beginning of the second or forward flight of the shuttle. This inclined edger of the horn constitutes a rear wall for the deliveryand the bottom d converge toward the throat m. The delivery-passage as a whole thus diverges rearwardly and laterally, so as to be widest at the'point of the horn, and it condent 0m aninspection of Fig. 3 that the thread once in the eye can esca e only by the upward passage of the .threa through the narrow throat m, and' not only must the thread so escape through this narrow throat,

distance to c ear the u per point a; of the horn. This is practica y impossible and is rendered'so, first, by the circumstance that so close to the horn; second, because the wall F of the cavity in the shuttle below the point 'i is substantiall [vertical and prefer; ably overhangin an hence has no tend ency to guide t e thread into the narrow of the horn overhangs the throat.- Consefluently the unthreading of: the shuttle is-re=' uced to a minimum. The throat m is ren-fl dered so narrow b the close approach ofthe ""ihihifimm space'ror' the passage of the thread.

It will be noted that a salient characterbottom of the/del'ivery-passage extends downwardly back of the point of the horn and into close proximitywith its heel-and near the plane of the top of the shuttle-eye;

Shuttles provided with the present improvements substantiall eliminate as a disturbing factor the mist eading, unthreading, and theresultingbreaka' e, thus enabling automatic weft-replenishing to their maximurncapacity.

the bottom 6 ofthe delivery-passage extends throat m, and, thirdly, because the point ct JIO istic ofg'theimproved construction is that the I ooms-to be run- 7 I 1'30.

the thread will lie underneath the point a of the horn when the thread is left slack during passage, and it will benoted that the edge verges downwardly, being narrowest at its an up erwall for the eye. 1 Now it is ev1- Y but it must in addition then move'forwardly toward the ti end of the shuttle a sufficient 'bottomd 'to the e' gm of the horn as to leave a pass, and hehcefthe danger ofiac-eidental 1111 threading is substantiallyoverlcome.

' wardly and outwardly,

backwardly from its point to it's heel, its

&

I claim as invention .1. An automatically-threading shuttle having a threading-passage an open thread-eye a horn, the leading edge of which extends hee beingbe'low the plane of the top ofthe threadeye; and aidelivery-passage forwardof the horn, said delivery-passage diverging later a1 y and inclining downwardly and rearwardly from the tipend-of the shuttle, its directing-wall terminating at the slot of the open thread-eye and inclining downwardly and inwardly, its guard-wall inclining downits bottom inclining downwardly and terminating beneath the point of the horn and in close proximity to the heel of'the horn and ina plane substantially at or near the plane of the top of the thread-eye, and its forward edge being below U the point of 'the horn, and the upper edge of the directing-wall being at least asllow. as the under side of-the point of the horn.

2. automatically-threading shuttle having athreading-passage, a threadweye, a horn having a point at its top anda heel at its bottom, and a delivery-passage forward of the horn, said delivery-passage diverging laterally and inclining downwardly and rearwardly' from the tip end of the shuttle, its directing-wa'll-inclining downwardly and inwardly, its guard-wall inclining downwardly and outwardly, and its bottom inclining downwardly and terminating beneath the point of the horn and in close proximity to the heel of the horn, thereby leaving a narrow throat of minimum wid h for the free passage of the thread. Y

3. An automatically-threading shuttle having a threadingpassage,=a thread-eye, ahorn, and a delivery-passage forwardof the horn, said delivery-passage diverging laterally and inclining downwardly from the tip end of the shuttle toward the horn, and the entire for- V ward edge ofthe delivery-passage being below the under side of the-point of the horn.

4. An automatically-threading shuttle havg a threadingpassage,'a thread-eye, a horn, the leading edge of which I extends backwardly-fromits point to its heel, its heel being below the plane of the top of the threadeye, and a delivery-passage extending bethe horn, the bottom of which extends into close proximity'wlth the neath the point of heel of the horn, and to a plane substantially at or near the plane of thetop of the threadeye. i

5. An automatically-threading shuttle having a tl-ireading-passage; a-thread-eye; a horn, the leading edge of which extends backwardly from its point to its heel, its heel being below the plane ofthe top of the thread eye; and a delivery-passage extending beneath the'point of the horn, the bottom of which extends into close proximity with the heel of-the 'horn thereby leaving a narrow thread, and

rear;

horn, and an overhanging wal my name in the '6. Anautomaticallywthreading shuttle havinga threading-passage, anopen thread-eye, a horn having a pointat its top anda heel at its bottom, and a delivery-passage forward of the horn and communicating with the open eye, said delivery-passagehavinga bottom inclining downwardly from the tip end of the shuttle beneath the upper :point-of the horn and-close to theheel of .the horn, and terminating at its lowest position at least as low as the plane of the upper part of the thread-eye.

7. An automatically-threading shuttle having a threadin assage, an open thread-eye, a horn, and a (le ivery-passage forward of the hornand communicating with the open eye, said delivery-passage having abottom inclining downwardly from the-tip end of the shuttle-beneath the point of the hornandclose to the heel of the horn, thereby leaving a narrow throat of minimum width for the free passage of the thread.

8. An automatically-threading shuttle having a threading-passage, athread-eye, a horn, and a delivery-passage'forward of the horn, the-bottom of which inclines downwardly from the tip end of the shuttle and terminates at its lowest point where it is nearest the horn in -a plane at least as low as the plane of the upper part of the thread-eye.

9. An.automaticallythreading shuttle having a threadin assage, an open thread-eye, a horn, and a d e ivery-passage forward of the hornand communicating with the open eye, said delivery-passage having a bottom extending beneath the point of the horn and close to the heel of the horn, thereby leaving a narrow throat of minimum Width for the free passage of the thread.

10. An automaticallythreading shuttle having a threadingpassage, a thread-eye, a horn, and a delivery-passage forward of the horn and-communicating with the-eye, said delivery-passage extending beneath the point of the horn, and converging downwardly at both sides, 'rear and bottom to a narrow throat just permitting the free passage of the diverging at its top from front to '11. An automatically-threading shuttle having a threading-passage, a thread-eye, a

horn, and a delivery-passage forward-of the horn and extending beneath the point of the extending downwardly from the lowest part'ofthe dealivery-passage.

[In witness whereof I have hereunto signed presence of two subscribing WILLIAM F. DRAPER. Witnesses:

witnesses. 

